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Smoker for Tailgates

Anyone have a smoker for ribs, boston butts, etc?

I am completely a novice at this, but after seeing the kind of dedication I have seen from the tailgaters in the SEC, I now feel obligated to rise to the challange here and show off our Iowa pork assets in the future.

I am thinking about investing in one for next season to really open some whoop *** for tailgates.

For those of you who are familiar with them or have one for gameday, could you give a guy some good leads as to where to start some research?

Re: Smoker for Tailgates

Keep in mind the time needed for smoking, A Boston Butt or a large brisket will take 10 to 12 hours of cooking time. Two to three hours of smoke followed by 7 to 9 hours of slow heat in the 180 to 225 range. I have both a charcoal smoker and a gas smoker. Like them both. Use a mixture of hickory and a fruit wood like apple or pear chips and enjoy.

Re: Smoker for Tailgates

Originally Posted by timc243

C.John, do you ever smoke any game? Such as deer, pheasant, or fish? Or do you stick to beef and pork?

Some trout once, I didn't use the right combo of chips and it came out a tad bitter and strong. Usually I stick with brisket and pork with occasional chicken thrown in. I have my local butcher cut some extremely thick Iowa style chops, give'm a good spice rub and smoke until the almost fall apart. yum I get my chickens from my brother who raises them free range, so they are sorta wild, but no, I've never had the chance to smoke venison or any wild game bird.

Re: Smoker for Tailgates

Originally Posted by Broodwich

Anyone have a smoker for ribs, boston butts, etc?

I am completely a novice at this, but after seeing the kind of dedication I have seen from the tailgaters in the SEC, I now feel obligated to rise to the challange here and show off our Iowa pork assets in the future.

I am thinking about investing in one for next season to really open some whoop *** for tailgates.

For those of you who are familiar with them or have one for gameday, could you give a guy some good leads as to where to start some research?

I smoke every game. We do pork and beef roasts, along with brats and chickens. The NEB game I smoked 6 whole fryer chickens, beer can's up the butt style. But the best thing to smoke for a game day is spare ribs. We do around 20 lbs. on average (using rib racks of course). All of this takes around 4 hours to do. Perfect for a tailgate if you get there when the gates open. I use a charcoal smoker (link to picture below). Smoking meat makes the tailgate now and I canít image not doing it. Iíll be happy to answer specific questions if you have any.

Re: Smoker for Tailgates

I do the "poor man's smoke" by throwing hickory chips on top of my charcoal. Still get that smokey flavor but without all the wait. Don't want the coals too hot though else the chips just burn too quick and make the fire even hotter.

It's still not as good as using a real smoker but it definately enhances the flavor if you are doing ribs, chicken, etc.

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